Bearing block structure



u y 5, 2 J. P. IBUTTERFIELD 2, 0

BEARING BLOCK STRUCTURE Filed March 24, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet l I 4 i2 y 1952 J. P. BUTTERFIELD 2,603,538

BEARING BLOCK STRUCTURE Filed March 24, 1948 4 Sheets-sheaf 2 INVENTORL 1:51; Zjzufer/zb/a.

July 15, 1952 Filed March 24, 1948 J. P. BUTTERFIELD 2,603,538

BEARING BLOCK STRUCTURE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. (76A?! pfiuiier/Q'e/J July 15, 1952 J. P. BUTTERFIELD 2,503,533,

' BEARING BLOCK STRUCTURE V 1 Filed March 24, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 E- an I! I; I;

INVEN TOR.

I rjlrr 2L5 u/{er/z'eli BY, I

ITTOR/VI/S.

Patented July 15, 1952- v UNITED STATE BEARING BLOCK STRUCTURE John P. Butterficld, ,GrossePointe, Woods, Micli., assignor to Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Mich., a corporation of Delaware:

Application March 24, 19 18, Serial No. 16,648 2 Claims. (01. sot-3) This invention relates primarily to internal combustion engines of the double acting type.

Inthe double actingtype ofengine a double piston is employed for reciprocatory movement in a'cylinder bore, such engines being arranged to provide a combustion chamber at each end of the cylinder for cooperation with one end of the. double piston. Engines of this general type are known in'the art and employ a crankshaft which is directly operably connected to the double piston without the use of a connecting rod such as is used in the more conventional type of engine. The. double acting type of engine offers many advantages over the more conventional types of engines but certain difliculties inv the manufacture and operation of such an engine have heretofore been deemed to be of such serious and unsurmountable character as to cause this type of. engine to either be discarded or not worth the expenditure of effort necessary to overcome the problems involved. One of the difficulties experienced in this type of engine isin providing a practicable operating connectionbetween the.-v piston and crankshaft; In the past, such connections havebeen unsatisfactory in that they are subject to undue wear, rattle, breakagaand binding of the engaged parts due to ordinary deflections'in the crankshaft and as aresult of the inability, as a practical matter, to maintain the necessary exactness in the relative alignment or relationship of the axes of'the cylinder, piston, crankshaft, crank portion ofthe crankshaft, the piston slideway, and thebearing member between the slideway and crank portion. Even when such parts were made to the best of shop tolerances binding of the parts was unavoid shaft which will overcome the aforesaid problems andpdisadvantages. My invention provides an operating connection which is capable of manufacture with ordinary shop facilities and which,

upon assembly-inthe engine, will readily and freely compensate for the usual inaccuracies of manufacturethereby to relieve binding tendencies ln the various movingparts. y

' A further object is to provide an operating connection which will not rattle and which will be capable of use, without failure or damage, over long periods heretofore connections known: prior to my invention.

Another object is. to provide an engine having improved compactness whereby, for a given power output, my enginewill occupy less space and will be less' costly to manufacture.

An additional object is to provide an improved assembly of piston and crankshaft having less tive of the principles of my invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in ing a typical cylinder and associated piston.

Fig. 2 is va sectional plan view taken as indi- I cated byline 24-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view taken as.

indicated by line 3-3 of Fig. 1 but illustratin the piston in its mid-stroke position. Fig. 3A is a sectional ,elevationalview along line 3A'-3A of Fig. 2, but showing the-piston'in,

its mid-stroke position.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the bearing block structure as seen in;Fig.' 3.

Fig. 5 is an end elevational viewof the Fig.4- structure, theyview being taken as indicated by the arrow on-Figql.

Fig. 6 is a view corresponding to Fig. 4 show ing a modif ed bearing block structure.-

Fig. 7; is an end structure. "a".

Fig. 8 is a sectional view according to line 8%!!- of ig. 6.-

Fig. 3 is aperspectiveview of one of the corn-1 plementary interchangeable portions of the Fig..

G'structure;

The;; engine illustrated in. the accompanying? drawings is more fully disclosed and claimed thecopending,applications of Alexander G.[Herreshofi, Serial; No. 16,801, filed. March. 24,. 19,48; and, in my=copending applications .Serial Nos; 16,645, 16,647,. now.;-;Pa tent No. 2,571,198, and 16,659, filed March' -24,. .:8,.and novel features not attained-by operatinga; transverse sectional elevational view through-the engine cylinder block structure'show v elevational view of the Fig.6.

face contact in a plane l2 which is vertical for the illustrated positioning of the engine. 'Ifdesired the engine may be positioned with any desired orientation and reference terminology employed herein and referring to vertical, hori-- zontal, or the like, is for convenience of description and not by way of limitation.

Each portionof the cylinderblock structure is formed with'a half-part of a cylinder 13 of substantially uniform diameter between the opposite side faces M of the block structure where piers or tie-portions 38. In the present embodiment of my invention the piston structure A is formed of component similar half-portions 38a brought together by seating the end faces of the piers 38 of one-half portion on the corresponding end faces of the other half portion, the plane of contact 39 being perpendicular or normal with the pi'ston axis 31 althoughif' desired, the piston structure may be integrally cast as shown in the each end of the cylinder is closed by a cylinder I head I5 providing a combustion chamber l6.- Suitable intake and exhaust valves l1, I8 respectively control inlet of fuel mixture fromrthe inlet gas passages [9 to the combustion chambers and discharge of exhaustgas through passages 20 from the combustion chambers. A camshaft 2i, driven from the crankshaft 22 at one-half the speed thereof for a four stroke cycle engine, con-' trols the operation of the valves l1; l8 for each of the engine cylinders inconjunction with the tappe'ts 23 and valve springs 24 as will be readily understood.

The block portions I0 and H are brought together and the cylinder heads maintained in their illustrated assembled positions by a plu-' rality of through bolt assemblies 25 which extend through the block portions and cylinder heads. The camshaft 2| carries the valve operating cams 26 and has spaced journal portions 21 runn'mg in suitable bearings '28 disposed in the mating semi-cylindrical openings 29 of the block portions in; H, and between adjacent openings 29 the block portions have the mating half-recesse's 30 providing cam chambers from which lubricant may drain through a, passage formed by the mating half-passages 3| of the block portions thence to cylinder [3. Aswill presently be? more apparent, any drainage through a passage 3-! enters-a chamber of the piston structure whence such drainage, along with lubricating-oilescaping from the moving parts communicating with suchchamber', escapes through a passage formed by the mating half-passages 32 of the block portions to the oil reservoir or sump 33 which is attached to the bottom face of thecylinder block structure. a

For an engine of the liquid circulating cooled type, as illustrated, the cylinder heads l5 andblockportions Ill, II are provided with cored interco'm'munic'ating coolant passages 34, the 6011 tacting faces of the block portions being lapped" and wiped with a conventional rubber cement'or the like piiioi 'to assembly to'insu-re properalig'mm'ent of the engine parts and to insure against leakage of coolant and lubricating'oil in-tne plane l2f a -3 1 I Reciprocating within the typical illustratedcyl inder: [3- isa piston structure A having a, head portion 35 at each end thereof respectivelycooperating with the combustion chambers-16 9f the cylinder headsi 51 I-he' piston structure-n carriesaset of rings 36 adj'acent 'eaoh of its head portions and has axis 31 coincident the axis 'of-tlie eylinder'bore-Bi [The opposite head 1 portions 35 of'the double piston-structural; are connected ty an 'intei' ni'ediatebody structure 7 herein-illustrated comprising a plurality of plication Serial No. 18,801,'for example.

a unitary crankshaft 22 is employed in lieu of a built-up sectional type of crankshaft as illustrated in the aforesaid I-Ierrcsholf application Serial No. 16,801, or in my copending application Serial No. 16,646, filed March 24,1948, now Patent No. 2,595,761. 7

In order to secure the piston portions together, the piers 38 have passages 40 extending axially therein toreceive the double-ended bolt assemblies 4| each having its bolt member'embedded in the coaxial passages 4010f an abutting'pair of piers '38. The bolts are tensioned bythenuts 42 located in the recesses 43 which open inwardly from the skirt portion 44 of each piston portion.

The piston structure Ais provided with a pair: of diametrically disposed openings or slots 45in itsintermediate body structure, these slots being bounded circumferentially of the piston by a pair of :the piers 38 of each piston portion 38a. and be ing elongated axially of the pistonstructure. The slots45 receive the crankshaft 22 and accommodate reciprocation of the piston structure A relativeto the crankshaftwhich is rotatable about its axis 46, the crankshaft having journal porwith. Each crank portion 13 is connected toi'an: adjacent pair .of journal portions 41; by the obs liquely extending. crankshaft portions, 50,,the, crank B and oblique portions being-disposed.- within the hollow chamberil of piston structure.

A intermediate the heads 3510f the double ;ended pistonstructure A. 'It will be apparent that, they cylindrical crank portion'B presents a bearing surface of revolution 52having the axis 49 as;its-

axisof generation.

My improved operating connection between ,pis-' ton structure A and crankshaft 22 comprises a slideway crbearing guide C carried by the piston:

structure and a bearing structure 'or block D oper'- atively disposed betweencrank B and slideway C and so constructed and arranged; as to provide.- a sliding rocking bearing connection between the piston structure a andcrankshaft .crankr ;Where the piston structure A- is formed in parts-or:

sections of the form'illustrated, the slideway (3 1s thenpreferably formed by the similar companion:

slideway: portions 53 which are respectively cast with thepisto'n heads 35and connected therewith by the X-brace formed by "flanges or webs 54; 55'- each (if-which is swept-into its associated guides way portion 53 in or er to smile sli'cle' a rigid part-of the piston strii'ctu A.

The slideway-portions53 are thus spaced from ea h other in a direction axially-10f the piston str ucture and resent he I other. 1

ing surfacesfacingeach The slideway C extends transversely of the. piston structure Aalong an axis 56 which is normal. or perpendicular with the cylinder and piston axis 31 and with-the axis49of crank: B The point ofjinters'ection 51 of the axes 56 and=49 includes a point on the axis 31when the piston structure is. disposed at the extremeend positions ofits stroke as; shown in Fig. Isuch thatv the three axes 31, 56, and 149 then intersect at. a common point. ;Ea,chslideway portion 53 is provided with, av bearing surface of, revolution 58 having its longi tudinally extending surface elements extending parallel with the slideway axis 56 andbeingof arcuate formation in planes transverse to the slideway axis56. 'I'hus, as seenzin Fig. 2, each bearing surface 58 is curved in planes parallel with aplanecentaining the axes Hand 46 of the cylind -13am crankshaft-'22, Each surface 58 is-a portion of a cylindrical surface having axis 55-as the axis of such cylinder about which thesurfaces. 59 are developed or generated; .As will be seen in Fig. 3 the slideway C extends transversely through the piston, the opposite end s of the slideway being open outwardlybetween a pair of the piers 38 of each piston portion38 a the slots 45 extending beyond the guideway Crin the' ,'di+ rection of the piston axis; l 1 .l

The bearing structure Dis formed, for conven ience'of assembly, ofa pair ofsimilarinterchange able portions 59 formed internally with the complementary semi cylindrical portions:of a ymd-rical bearing surface of revolution 69 surrounding thecrankshaft bearing surface 52 and having a journalbearing fit' therewith/[Bearing surface 60 is developed or generated aboutithe axis 49 of the bearing sur'face 2 'of the crank B. The

portions 59 ofbearings'tructure D are externally 1 formed, with vthe cylindrically arcuate, portions are cylindrical bearing siurfacefof revolution,Iiiv having a rotatable and sliding fitlwith th e,slide way bearing'surfaces58. The bearingsurfac Gl' ofthe bearing block portio'ns 59 are'generated or deyelop'ed about the slideway axis 56 and, there fore, what has beenlsaid about the elements of surfaces-58 and the relationship of these surfaces 58 with axes 31, 49, and 51 is equally descriptive of surfaces 6 es will be presently more apparent, t e b a in r ctur D is t restricted as to movement axially on crank B inthe-direction of axis 49 but on the other handthisstrdcture D is free to shift its po'sitionaalong"crank bearing surface 52 as well as to rotatably journal the crank atQsurface 52. Thus a clearance space 62 is'- p,rov'ided fin the directionfof axis 49 toleach side-of structure D adjacent the opposite ends; in the direction of axis 49; "of the engaged portions of bearing surfaces 52 and 6051' z -f, ach 'f the bearing blockportions 59 isprov-i with a connecting'portion 63 atopposite sides of and adjacent its 'semi cylindrical-portion of bearing fil'and'eachportion '63 is perforated at 64 on an axis parallel with the axis 31 of the piston structure A. When the bearing block portions 59 are assembled the perforations 64 of the connecting portions 63 are in alignment with each other at the opposite sides of bearing 60 to receive the headed connecting members 65 which maintain portions 59 assembled with their portions 63 in contact with each other in a plane normal to axis 31 and containing axis49.

In the modified form of bearing block structure D illustrated in Figs. 6 to 9, inclusive, each aforesaid for portions 63 but differing therefrom in that the connecting portions 63 are of hingecrank B is in likeformation; Thus each portion 59' has a com trally disposed hinge projection fifijat one; side and a pair of; axially spacedaparthinge projec that the bearing structures Dand D are illustrative alternatives ,for usein the connecting means between the piston structure A and crankshaft 22.

As illustrative of practicable examples ofamae terials forming the parts of the operative con-' necting means and notby way of limitation, I

have obtained good results by casting the piston structure A of commercial aluminum alloy ordinarily used to'cast pistons in general,- the bearing block structure being made of. steel and having its cylindrical bearing surfaces 6| hardened; The steel crankshaft 22 has hardened cranks B running in semi-cylindrical bearing inserts 69 of .ap-. propriate bearing alloy such as commercial copper, lead, and steel employed in conventional engines for connecting rod and crankshaftmain,

bearings. If desired the piston structure A may alsob'e of cast iron instead of aluminum;

In connection withbearing :block D, I have illustrated a modification which, if desired, may be employed inconnection with. block D. In the, block D the cylindrical bearing surfaces 6| are carried by. andformed as a part of a cast iron in?" sert or facing shoe 10 which is secured to; each bearing block portion 59'. The shoes-.10. .are placed in,a .mold and the aluminum alloy is then poured to form the aluminum block portions 59'.:

The shoes-J9, hayeenlarged anchors ll embedded in the portions 59'; duringthe casting operation oftheportions 59 to provide a unitary assembly of each portion59; and its bearing shoe 10: ,As

an example .ofuse with suchjan arrangementthe piston structure ;A may be'formed ofaluminum: as; aforesaid, the aluminum: portions 59,, having theirbearing surfaces 50 journaling the hardened steel'cranks B. e

- Lubricant is supplied under ,pressureebyfthe system of oil passages 12,13,14extending through the'crankshaftto. its journals 4'! and also to. th V engaged pairs of bearing surfaces 52, 60 and 58,

My connecting means between the piston structure A and crankshaft 22 ,has the advantage of providing the desirable cylindrical bearing at surfaces 52 and 60 for the relatively high speed I rubbing action at the crank B and yet provides a universal self-alignment for the operating parts from the crankshaft to the piston structure. On the other hand the piston is maintained against unrestrained or excessive rotation about its axis which would be undesirableas requiring excessive clearance between the oblique crankshaft portions 50 and the piston piers 38 when the the vicinity of'its mid-stroke positions. V

My connecting means provides the three degrees of'rotational freedom sufficient to insure proper alignment between all pairs of the work- 'ing surfaceswhich are (a) crank bearing surface 52- and bearing blocksurfacefifl, (b) cylinder I31 and the cylindrical surfaces. of the piston. structure A. engaged therewith, and (a) cylindrical surfaces 58 of slideway C and themating surfaces 5! ofthe bearing-block. These pairsof surfaces (a), '(b) and (c) are respectively generated about axes 49, S'L-and 56 which in Fig. 2 are. seen to have a common center which is the intersectionof these axe's.

Accordingly the surfaces (a) are, of course, relatively rotatable about the crankpin axis 59; surfaces (b) about axis31, and surfaces (crabout axis 56. Inasmuch as the bearing block-structureis unrestrained axially of thencrank B; this .bearingf block is free to assume anunrestrained free to oscillate about their respective axes-31 and 56 during operation of the engine to compensate for any; misalignment due to deflections under load ctr-manufacturing tolerances between the-desired -truly'parallel'rirelationship of axes 4'6 and 49. Likewise such arrangement is self-compen sating' for misalignmentin the desired true perpendicular relationship'between cylinder-axis 37 and crankshaft axis 45 or for any other misalign ments in the parts from the cylinder to the crankshaft and including the pistonstructure A and bearing block structure D or D. The arrangementis such, for example, as to freely permit relative tilting between the piston structure A anclcrankshaft 22 in a-plane containing-the: axis 46 of the crankshaft and the axis 31 of cylinder l3, and because of the aforesaid three degrees of freedom any other relative misalignments will also be compensated for'by permitting relative tilt V ofrithe parts in any plane thus providing univervand to be slidably mountedin saidslideway str'uc' ture, each block portion-including a complementar y portion -of a cylindrical openingformed 'in an interiorly' disposed end edge-thereofwhich' I opening-extends transversely of the block structure and is adapted to journal a portion of the crank: pin-,':- each block' portion also having a cylindrically curved bearing surface formed acrossthe opposite end edge thereof, each bearing stiron the crank pin, and a-connecting pin extending through each set of aligned perforations: to connect the block portions together.

2. A bearing block structure-for operably con-- necting a cylindrical crank pin with a slideway structure carried interiorly of a piston, compris ing a pair of complementary block portions each formed with a complementary portion ofa cylindrica'l' opening in an end edge thereof which opene ing extends transversely of the block structure and is adapted to journal a portion of the crank pin, each block portion also-having a cylindricaily curved bearing surface formed across the opposite end edge thereof, each bearing surface being generated about an axis that isperpendicul'ar t0 and intersects the crank pin axis, each block bearing surface extending longitudinally of the block'and'being adapted to be slidablyan'd rockably engaged with a mating cylindrically curved through each set of aligned perforationsto con-' face being generated about anaxis that is per- I pendicular to and intersects the crank pin axis, 7

each bearing surface extending longitudinally of the block and being adapted to be slidably and rockablyengaged with a "mating, cylindrically nect th'e blockpcrtions together, and radially ex-" tending lubrication passages extending through each block portion from the crank' pin journal opening to the. curved bearing surface along the opposite end edges of each block.

" JOHN P. BUTTERFIELD. A

v 7 REFERENCES errnn" rhelre iowmgl referencesare of record in the file ofthis patent? it UNITED STATES PATENTS l.

' 1968,4 37 Wellman Aug. 23; I910 1,182,057 Thomson May 9, 1916 1,440,747 Rogatchoff JanQ2". 1923 1,578,228 Yearsley' Mar. 23,192 1;7l0,721 Bosm'ans V Apr. 30; 1929 2,439,003 7 Hawold A'pr. 6', 1948' 

